Coronado’s beaches remain closed due to the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis, but it’s been a busy week for updates both locally and federally.
Mexico’s wastewater treatment plant is complete
Mexico’s laborious project is complete: Its San Antonio de los Buenos Wastewater Treatment Plant (SAB) is operational, although it is still in the final stabilization process to meet Mexican permit standards.
Still, the plant is operating at full capacity and treating 18 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage.
The plant routinely receives about double that, although the amount varies depending on how much flow is in the river and whether it is wet or dry season, said Frank Fisher, chief of public affairs for the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The U.S. is currently rehabilitating and expanding its own treatment plant, the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant (SBIWTP), a project that launched last fall and is expected to take up to five years to complete.
Once it and related projects on both side of the border are complete, flows of raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean are expected to decrease by 90 percent.
EPA prepares for ‘urgent strategy’
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to act on the issue, according to Spokesperson Molly Vaseliou.
Lee Zeldin, the EPA’s administrator, will visit San Diego soon to assess the problem and possible solutions.
“Administrator Zeldin will be headed to San Diego to see firsthand the impacts of raw sewage flowing from Mexico into the Tijuana River,” Vaseliou said. “The administrator feels strongly that the time has come to finalize and implement an urgent strategy to end decades of raw sewage entered the U.S.”
Trump comments on Tijuana sewage
In a video posted by Forbes Breaking News, President Donald Trump responded to a question about the ongoing wastewater issues from Tijuana.
“Mexico has a faulty sewage system that’s dumping sewage into our part of the ocean,” Trump said. “The Pacific Ocean is not looking too good on many occasions. Sometimes it stops, and sometimes it breaks, and when it breaks, very bad and disgusting things happen.”
During the April 15 meeting of the Coronado City Council, Mayor John Duncan said that he believes the situation has reached a “critical turning point of awareness” in the administration.
“The Secretary of Defense has been briefed and is talking about it; the Secretary of State has been briefed and is talking about it,” Duncan said, also referencing Zeldin’s upcoming trip to San Diego.
U.S. awaits update on Mexico’s diversion of sewage into Tijuana River
Last week, construction on Mexico’s International Collector project pushed about 5 MGD of sewage into the Tijuana River. Shortly after, Coronado’s beaches closed.
Mexico projected the diversion to end on April 17, when the first phase of its International Collector project was complete. (More on that project here.) At the time of publication – around 7 a.m. on April 18 – no update was available, but Fisher said the U.S. expects an update today. This story will be updated as more information is available.
Coronado extends emergency declaration
The Coronado City Council declared a local state of emergency for the ongoing sewage crisis earlier this year, and by law, it must revisit the matter ever 60 days. The council voted unanimously to extend the emergency declaration at its April 15 meeting.
Whether the declaration would make a difference has been debated over the last year, with some saying it was merely a symbolic gesture, and others saying the symbolism would help with advocacy for funding and solutions. However, council members reported that the public and other local leaders appreciated the move. And, with Coronado’s beaches closing again at the beginning of the week, the council agreed that the problem remained urgent.
